APRIL 7, 1906.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 

545 


A MARSH FARM HOUSE. 
Note the mode of yoking the Oxen. 
Shooting snipe in the Roman province, when 
the flight birds are scarce and one has to deal 
with cunning old acclimated ones, is a science. 
The birds are found massed around the feeding 
grounds in the early morning, but they rise in 
a body at the first shot, and when they have 
been scattered by a few more, they disappear 
completely. It is then the hunter’s skill is called 
into play. 
A flushed bird, if acclimated, will seek safety 
in the most extraordinary places, though in- 
deed it invariably seems to be influenced by 
weather conditions. Though it is generally be- 
lieved that a snipe will not alight on the stems 
or branches of plants, I have often found them 
in the reeds, with two or three feet of water 
beneath them, where there was not a square 
inch of ground for miles around. 
On a bright, sunny day a flushed snipe will 
either alight in the wet meadows again or seek 
the dry fields. If it rains, it will choose the 
scrubby brush in preference, and in a high wind 
it will try the woods or the tall reeds, where it 
finds shelter. 
Bags of from twenty to thirty snipe are not 
unusual within a few miles of Rome, while 
during the good part of the season fifty to a gun 
is not considered extraordinary shooting for 
the Pontines. 
Of the jacksnipe (not the American jack) 
little need be said. In conformation it is alfnost 
a miniature Wilson snipe. It is very small, not 
particularly plentiful and rather tame _ sport. 
It will sit until literally kicked up by the dog, 
then take a short, straight flight and go down 
again a few yards away. You can miss it a 
dozen times (if you are clever), and still have 
another chance. The sport is uninteresting. 
And now for the solitary snipe, the very best 
game bird (as far as a dog’s work is concerned) 
that it has ever been my good luck to hunt. A 
rarity in the fall, and during the winter, this 
bird abounds-in March or April, when the first 
warm breezes are wafted from the south. The 
marsh is in all the glory of its bright spring 
raiment, at the time, and the solitary. seems to 
know it. He is really the aristocrat of the 
snipe family. No muddy or brackish water for 
his lordship, and no weather but the finest. 
Where the limpid stream flows out to irrigate 
a field of tender green grass, where a crystal 
spring bubbles up among clusters of fragrant 
wood violets, where great beds of gorgeous 
wild jonquils point out a pool of clear rain 
water, there you will find him. 
A hermit, as his name indicates, he roves around 
restlessly, ever sensitive to the slightest change 
of weather, always in search of a better trysting 
place. And so it happens, that where you make 
a big bag to-day you may pass empty-handed to- 
morrow. Going after him is a gamble, and to 
my mind this adds greatly to the pleasure. Be- 
sides which the English and jack favor the 
same localities, and they are ever around to 
serve as a consolation prize to the unfortunate. 
The appearance of the solitary is one of its at- 
tractions. It is a beautiful bird, much like the 
Wilson in build, but brighter in color, far big- 
ger in size and better proportioned. Its legs 
and bill are shorter, and the breast is richer in 
black. But it is its behavior when discovered 
by the dog that makes the solitary such a fas- 
cinating bird to hunt. A slow flyer, nature 
seems to have provided for its safety by pre- 
senting it with a most excellent pair of legs 
and the knowledge of how to use them. It will 
run before the dog at an incredible rate of 
speed instead of rising, and the average dog will 
lose it almost invariably after a short and use- 
less chase, for, as soon as disturbed, it takes a 
good sprint and then stops to await results. If 
followed, it will double on its tracks, cross and 
re-cross its trail until an inextricable network 
of scent has been laid, and then scoot off again 
at breakneck speed. The ingenuity displayed 
by both animals in this contest of wits is really 
marvellous, and to watch the work of an intelli- 
gent and well trained bracco at it, is one of the 
prettiest sights a sportsman can be treated to. 
No sooner has the dog scented its prey than it 
starts in pursuit at a gallop. Little fear of a 
flush, for the bird will only rise when cor- 
nered. For five or ten minutes at times, the 
mad race may last. Rushing from side to side, 
suddenly turning at right angles, twisting in 
and out of the stunted bushes, the dog will fol- 
low its quarry at a wild pace until by clever 
dodging it succeeds in heading it toward you. 
At your feet the bird will pause for a second, 
undecided, and the dog will drop into a steady 
point. Then is your chance, kick hastily before 
you, and the brown beauty will rise majestically 
from under your feet. To kill it is child’s play, 
unless you are over-anxious and shoot too soon; 
its flight is slow, heavy and straight. 
Bags of thirty-five and forty solitary snipe 
are on record, but they are the rare exception. 
A dozen to twenty birds are:considered a good 
day’s work, and many a sportsman thinks his 
day well spent if he can see even one of these 
birds, properly worked by his dog. 
A short stay in the marshes, either at one of 
the big farmhouses or the more modest hut of 
a woodchopper, will afford a novel and most 
interesting outing at very small cost. For a 
few lire, guides can be secured in Rome who 
will arrange all the details and furnish the dogs. 
It is better policy, nevertheless, to purchase a 
brace of tried bracchi, which can be had in 
northern Italy for $20 or $25 apiece, and then 
secure the services of a woodchopper or char- 
coal burner right on the grounds. These men 
are faithful, intelligent, and know every foot of 
the territory. 
Contrary to the general use, thigh boots, 
whether of rubber or leather, are not advisable 
in the Pontines. The marsh is full of buffalo 
wallows, and one often goes down to the waist 
in water. Now nothing is more disagreeable or 
harmful than wet within one’s boots, and a great 
many Romans now wear low shoes with holes 
in them and gaiters. The water filters right 
through them, and ten minutes after leaving the 
water one’s feet are practically dry. 
The prospective visitor to the marshes will 
hear terrible tales of the danger awaiting him if 
he falls in with the semi-savage buffaloes that 
inhabit the region. These tales are often true, 
but the ugly brutes are arrant cowards, and 
while they will attack and trample to death 
any one taking flight at their appearance, they 
will promptly turn tail if met fearlessly and 
shouted at. 
The best place to be taken in, if only one day 
can be spared, is Maccarese, a farm situated 
about seventeen miles north of Rome. Part of 
it has been recently made into a preserve, but 
the best portion, Campo Salino, is still open to 
the public. If several days are at one’s dis- 
posal, better try the Pontine marshes. Any one 
of the villages studding the section of country 
between Velletri and Terracina are within easy 
reach of splendid grounds, and Cisterna, Tre 
Ponti, Mesa or Piperno can provide both con- 
veyances and guides. The trip is unique and 
well worth taking. L. DEB. HANDLEY. 
New York. 

MARSH FOLK—WOODCUTTERS. 
